Rare Collectible Out of Print OOP Laserdiscs. LASERDISC - The Original UnCompressed Digital Video Medium with superior quality Image to all other Formats before the coming of Blu-Ray. Titles are getting harder to come by now, so when you see a collectable LD Grab it. Laserdisc is a more resiliant media type also, it will outlast many DVDs, and Blu-Ray discs will also degrade over time. Many titles were released on Laser Disc that have as yet to be transposed to DVD or Blu-Ray, and when a LD Title comes to your attention, that you,ve wanted to get hold of, you should take advantage quickly, before some other collector snaps it up faster than you. "The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video disc format, and was the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially marketed as Discovision in 1978, the technology was licensed and sold as Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Videodisc, Laservision, Disco-Vision, DiscoVision, and MCA DiscoVision until Pioneer Electronics purchased the majority stake in the format and marketed it as LaserDisc in the mid to late 1980s. While the format itself produced a consistently higher quality image than its rivals, the VHS and Betamax systems, it was poorly received in North America. In Europe and Australia, it remained largely an obscure format. It was, however, much more popular in Japan and in the more affluent regions of South East Asia, such as Hong Kong and Singapore. Laserdisc was the prevalent rental video medium in Hong Kong during the 1990s. The technology and concepts provided with the Laserdisc would become the forerunner to Compact Discs and DVDs." Laserdisc movies have become a highly sought after collectible since the intorduction of the DVD and Blu-Ray technology, Many of the movies formatted to laserdisc were not as yet remade in the DVD format or Blu-Ray. One premonition of Steven Speilberg as seen in the Sequel to Back to the Future, was a scene set in Hill Valley 2015 where mountains of used Laserdiscs were Cubed up, ready for disposal, and to a degree, that was true. But the Originality of the Laserdisc a a Concept, gave it a strength that is recognised by many fans of the system, who collect all the special movie moments that were transfered to LD Laserdisc Format. Laserdisc technology, using a transparent disc, was invented by David Paul Gregg in 1958 (and patented in 1961 and 1990). By 1969, Philips had developed a videodisc in reflective mode, which has great advantages over the transparent mode. MCA and Philips decided to join their efforts. They first publicly demonstrated the videodisc in 1972. Laserdisc was first available on the market, in Atlanta, on December 15, 1978, two years after the VHS VCR and four years before the CD, which is based on Laserdisc technology. Philips produced the players and MCA the discs. The Philips/MCA cooperation was not successful, and discontinued after a few years. Several of the scientists responsible for the early research (Richard Wilkinson, Ray Dakin and John Winslow) founded Optical Disc Corporation (now ODC Nimbus). In 1979, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago opened their "Newspaper" exhibit which used interactive Laserdiscs to allow visitors to search for the front page of any Chicago Tribune newspaper. This was a very early example of public access to electronically stored information in a museum. The first Laserdisc title marketed in North America was the MCA DiscoVision release of Jaws in 1978. The last two titles released in North America were Paramount's Sleepy Hollow and Bringing Out the Dead in 2000. The last Japanese released movie was the Hong Kong film Tokyo Raiders from Golden Harvest. A dozen or so more titles continued to be released in Japan, until the end of 2001. Production of Laserdisc players continued until January 14, 2009, when Pioneer stopped making them. It was estimated that in 1998, Laserdisc players were in approximately 2% of US households (roughly two million). By comparison, in 1999, players were in 10% of Japanese households. Laserdisc was released on June 10, 1981 and a total of 3.6 million Laserdisc players were sold in Japan. A total of 16.8 million Laserdisc players were sold worldwide of which 9.5 million of them were sold by Pioneer. Laserdisc has been completely replaced by DVD in the North American retail marketplace, as neither players nor software are now produced there. Players were still exported to North America from Japan until the end of 2001. The format retained some popularity among American collectors, and to a greater degree in Japan, where the format was better supported and more prevalent during its life. In Europe, the Laserdisc always remained an obscure format. It was, however, chosen by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for the BBC Domesday Project in the mid-1980s, a school-based project to commemorate 900 years since the original Domesday Book in England." Wikipedia Info Source - One interesting feature of the Laserdisc player that did not make it through to the next level of Digital video players, (DVD or Blu-Ray) Was the Side Flip option, where the Laser head its-self swapped sides to play the information on the flip side of the Disc. Some DVD Movies did have an A Side B Side to them, and when played in a Laserdisc player, the disc needed no removing to flip sides.
